macrumors 68020

best buy is insane about pushing msn
they tell us all the time to sell it.
at my store, as far as i know, they dont make the cashiers sell msn...they make the computers people do it. but still...i definitely could see where the pitch could go seriously wrong.
after reading the article, it seems to me MSN owes the guy a refund...and i dont know enough about law to comment on best buy's culpability.
but this made my day. well, ok, not really....but it did amuse me.
--carly

Administrator

Staff Member

It's not quite as bad as the MSN scam, but it bugs me that Best Buy, and its competitors too, train their salespeople to tell you how great a product is, and then, after you decide to buy it, do their best to sell you a service contract, implying that the product is flaky, prone to problems, or otherwise an untrustworthy investment without a ready source of repair.

macrumors 6502

one, its mostly a contracts case so you cant get punitive damages (usually) or pain and suffering etc.

however, microsuck lost a large case a few years back because they were upgrading peoples MSN accounts based on some hidden part of some obscure online contract that gave them the right to do it without asking. of course they got reemed in court....read it in our "click as acceptance" section in the contracts book

macrumors 6502a

This happened to my dad. He has been trying to figure out why he has been charged MSN access on his card (he uses a different ISP).

The funny thing is, I was there when we bought his new computer (an HP ). The salesperson kept asking us if we want an MSN subscription, or trial. And I told him we already have an ISP. He kept pushing and I kept telling him we don't want it. Before we got into a fistfight, my dad said for him to just give us "the damn disc".

A few months later: an MSN charge for 21.95. And it's been going on for a while. My dad keeps telling the credit card company that this is a service he did not use, and he will not pay it. So the credit company now has to battle MSN.

I believe this happened to many more people, but most are just too oblivious to realize they are being torn another one. They think: it's Microsoft, I must have it, I guess.

macrumors 604

Originally posted by zarathustra This happened to my dad. He has been trying to figure out why he has been charged MSN access on his card (he uses a different ISP).

The funny thing is, I was there when we bought his new computer (an HP ). The salesperson kept asking us if we want an MSN subscription, or trial. And I told him we already have an ISP. He kept pushing and I kept telling him we don't want it. Before we got into a fistfight, my dad said for him to just give us "the damn disc".

A few months later: an MSN charge for 21.95. And it's been going on for a while. My dad keeps telling the credit card company that this is a service he did not use, and he will not pay it. So the credit company now has to battle MSN.

I believe this happened to many more people, but most are just too oblivious to realize they are being torn another one. They think: it's Microsoft, I must have it, I guess.

Click to expand...

call this lawyer and hop onto the lawsuit, these two companies will settle out of court and you will have yourself a ton of extra money and maybe some cool stuff from best buy.

macrumors G5

Originally posted by Doctor Q It's not quite as bad as the MSN scam, but it bugs me that Best Buy, and its competitors too, train their salespeople to tell you how great a product is, and then, after you decide to buy it, do their best to sell you a service contract, implying that the product is flaky, prone to problems, or otherwise an untrustworthy investment without a ready source of repair.

Click to expand...

It's only after we make of impulse buy and opt-in to the service contract do we realize that the service contract infers that superior product they sold up is a piece of crap.

What would the sales monkey say if you asked them...

If this product "needs" a service contract, shouldn't I be buying a reliable product from another store?

macrumors 603

My family cancelled our subscription to Time magazine a while back, but they continued to charge us for each monthly issue, and we got a bill for four issues of Time. When we refused to pay they threatened to send out a collector to get the money from us. It just goes to show how much big buisness will do to get a few hundred more bucks out of people. It also gives me one more reason to hate Mmicorsoft as a company.

macrumors member

Originally posted by zarathustra This happened to my dad. He has been trying to figure out why he has been charged MSN access on his card (he uses a different ISP).

The funny thing is, I was there when we bought his new computer (an HP ). The salesperson kept asking us if we want an MSN subscription, or trial. And I told him we already have an ISP. He kept pushing and I kept telling him we don't want it. Before we got into a fistfight, my dad said for him to just give us "the damn disc".

A few months later: an MSN charge for 21.95. And it's been going on for a while. My dad keeps telling the credit card company that this is a service he did not use, and he will not pay it. So the credit company now has to battle MSN.

I believe this happened to many more people, but most are just too oblivious to realize they are being torn another one. They think: it's Microsoft, I must have it, I guess.

Click to expand...

My Husband and I had this same thing happen to us at Best Buy when he purchased his laptop (whew, glad I use a Powerbook) Fortunately, I just called up Microsoft and they refunded my card no questions asked.

MacRumors attracts a broad audience
of both consumers and professionals interested in
the latest technologies and products. We also boast an active community focused on
purchasing decisions and technical aspects of the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Mac platforms.